2025 GP du Quebec

July 30, 2025

Bringing another season to a close with one last weekend of racing, 33 Dinos took off to Montreal for the first annual Grand Prix du Quebec.

An incredible, world-class outdoor venue made for an exciting environment that also brought many external factors – extreme heat, sporadic rain, and backstroke with your eyes to the sky. It was the perfect culmination to a season of learning how to control the controllables and show up ready, no matter what.

We feel lucky to have had such a warm welcome from Neptune Natation and a professional, well-run meet supported by the Fédération de natation du Québec (FNQ). The experience demanded maturity and preparation, but that in no way took away from the incredible atmosphere and engagement on deck during finals – the energy was contagious.

Day one was HOT. Coming from a mild, rainy week in Calgary, a Wednesday training in the sun and a warm Thursday Prelims left the whole team feeling the fatigue quite quickly – recovery + hydration were the name of the game, and everyone needed to take great care in spending restful time out of the sun & heat each afternoon.

Each session, one of our swimmers was recognized for a standout swim – awarded by session to Joe Dong, Rachel Wigginton, Sophia Meller, Rosie Housman, Mya Harrington, Alexis Yuan, Sophie Bullock, and Luca Zaher – these athletes had an extraordinary moment we took time to recognized as a team.

We also made sure this trip was well documented and celebrated the part-time photographers and influencers among us with daily “Photo of the Day” honors:

Alexis Yuan for capturing The Floating Callie
Kiah Craig for a Rosie portrait
Sophia Meller for an artistic sketch of Mya H
Yueting Liang for a photoshopped Sienna
Yikai Yang for spotting art imitating life (his intitials)

We had every single Dino making at least one final, countless best times, 87 trips to the podium, a club record, and a provincial relay record to end the meet.

And celebrating their final races with UCSC before they head off to new post-secondary adventures… Kiah Craig, Milena Cosic, Maria Cosic, Avery Mitchell, Sonia Bakhshi, Rosie Housman, Sienna Rodgers, and Rachel Wigginton… Once a Dino, always a Dino. We’re cheering you on every step of the way.

An incredible close to another season of lessons, growth, celebration, and reflection. What a privilege to have sport to let us create these experiences, learn lessons to last a lifetime, challenges ourselves, and celebrate each other.

Happy Summer, Dinos! We'll be back before you know it...